She is the beauty of a starlit night. Full of Grace and free of sin, she has been the devotion of kings and peasants alike, as well as the middle class of the 1950s. Men and women in all generations will call her blessed, because he who is mighty has done great things for her. To call her blessed is in accordance with scripture. To not do so makes you yet another anti-Christ, no matter how many times you rant, "Praise the Lord."

July 04, 2017

Benedict XVI's legacy, as Successor of Peter, as opposed to cardinal

The main article posted here was written late in the Year 2011. That time was the first
time I called for Benedict XVI's resignation. That last time was in the Spring of 2012.
I really didn't know that he already decided to resign at that time. Well, don't think of
his papacy as good-riddens and goodbye. He was the Successor of Saint Peter and he
did issue some formal teachings. One of them was basically crucified. Well, it's de-
fended here:

Preliminary Note, written the day of Benedict's Feb 11, 2013 announcement

When the papacy of Benedict XVI is concluded, the most important axiom which will
have come from his teachings is that there's a major difference between co-existence
and fraternity. It's a difference similar to the one between day and night. Incidental-
ly, the Osservatore Romano reported that Benedict resolved to resign as far back as
March 2012, due to how taxed he was during his Latin American trip.

This is a time when papacy-haters come out of the woodwork, like insects. Incidental-
ly, a pope doesn't abdicate. He resigns. Moreover, this is not the time for casting slurs
upon an 85 year old man. But, it was done, anyway.

It was a curious thing that the announcement was made on the memorial of Our Lady
of Lourdes. I state this in light of the Secrets of Lourdes which St Bernadette never
put into writing. However, she inadvertently revealed one of the secrets confided to
her by Mary, in Nevers, France, when she was asked if she were frightened at the
thought of the Prussians marching through France with effective success. None the
less, it were as if the world was being given a subliminal message, by either Divine
Providence or Benedict, himself. I can explain that secret at a later date.

Incidentally, Nevers, in French is pronounced, nuh vay ... sort of. While I'm at it, the
other fatal mispronunciation that Americans commonly make is that of the name of
St. John Vianney. It's pronounced, vee awh nay, with no accent on any syllable.

The following is the original 2011 article:

In contrast to the Republican Party Platform, there is the 2009 Encyclical

Cartias in Veritate, in its sum total, works well for anyone who doesn't possess an ob-
sessive isolationist mindset often found in rural anti-papal America. In it, Benedict
and his co-writers convey great insights, in making a sequential presentation of basic
thoughts. In the beginning part of the encyclical, Paul VI's social justice teachings
are reviewed, along with the social conditions of his time. Then, at the end of the
fifth Chapter, is the encyclical's major point. The major point is that you must avoid
having anarchy on the international level by which multinational corporations have
become de facto pirates.

Some individuals who commented on the encyclical did nothing more than present it
in a false light or in a cynical one. This would logically discourage people from read-
ing it. This was a loss to many. The encyclical is worth the read.

Benedict's 2009 text is additionally invaluable in that it differentiates the meaning of
key political and social science words. It will clear one's perception. It smashes the
idols of modern thought. Within it are sections of poetry in prose. It's a must read for
anyone who has the time to read. If you can't read well, then at least spot check it.
Read even a little bit of it as slowly as it takes you, so that you can get yourself at
least slightly familiarized with the text which will predictably provide the bench-
mark of the church of the near future. The text reads as well as does Pope Pius XII's
infallible statement of 1950. For the record, that infallible statement was one of my
term papers, in college.

In his 2009 encyclical, Benedict seeks to:

1} curb the abusiveness of multinational corporations,

2} prevent mankind from becoming a robot in its own technology,

3} have the church refer to Paul VI's Populorum Progressio as much as Leo XIII's
Rerum Novarum.

4} to have governments implement the policy of subsidiarity, where the most local
of entities attend to the most local of needs,

5} have humanity recognize that there is an immediate need for a governing authority
which comprises a few levels of command and is based on stable (and not on arbi-
trary) laws to oversee human conduct on a global scale. This is because the earth
is now an interconnected set of dominoes comprising instant communication even
halfway around the world. The needed government entity will be able to stop ex-
ploitation.

In the encyclical, Benedict states that there is a difference between mere co-existence
and fraternity. He additional sets forth that without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality and love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way.

The present Vicar of Christ also stated in the 2009 text that the church has a respon-sibility toward creation and is obligated to assert this responsibility in the public sphere. Most importantly, Benedict's thesis statement is that the church must, above all, protect mankind from self-destruction.

Now, there is a section that I found to be irritatingly redundant in the encyclical, as
I waited for the text to cut to the chase and get to the point. In fact, there are boring
parts of the text. The text has merit above and beyond the call of duty, for sure, none
the less. If it hasn't dawned on you yet, Benedict is the opposite of the conservative
Establishmentarian Status Quo. It turns out the he wasn't the rottweiler he was made
of to be.

Benedict XVI should retire, so that he can walk out of harm's way during these times
of increasing tribulation. He has left the needed legacy for the church of the future.
He is a little too delicate for what is to come. What is soon to arrive will predictably
include augmented versions of man's inhumanity to man, as well as natural disasters
imposed upon an unnatural generation of mankind.

In addition, Benedict, due to his days as Cardinal Ratzinger, has a target on him. It
would be for the good of the church for him to resign. It doesn't mean that you have
burn his texts. Caritas in Veritate won't be burned by me, any time soon. None the
less, it still doesn't give the Vatican or any other city state the right to keep the gold
that belongs to the descendants of Jews sent to concentration camps.

The encyclical only mentions a need for a global authority. It doesn't suggest any
of the logistics in procuring this. The laws must be moral laws, and this is the only
prerequisite. Therefore, such a government would not be operated by an Antichrist.
An imposter government would be so. An authentic government, on the other hand,
would base it's laws one thing: The value of a solitary human life.

In response to the various Republican neo-Confederate isolationists who cry out
in their sleep, "New World Order Conspiracy," and "One World Government Conspiracy," all the while empowering Dictatorial Maoist China, take note:

Firstly, the correct grammar is One Government World. They have two words back-
wards. Secondly, United States Circuit Court case law authority has expressly ruled
that "international law IS a part of the US Constitution." The Alien Tort Claims
Act of the original constitution (the Piracy Victim Clause) proves this to be the case,
in giving the U.S. jurisdiction over the ills done by a foreigner to another foreigner
in a foreign land.

Oh yes ... news flash ... Income tax is constitutional, being that it's an amendment in
the U.S. Constitution. Anything in the United States Constitution IS constitutional.
Whether it's right or wrong is a different story, however. This has been mentioned
in response to the One World Government conspiracy theorists who usually mention
that income is unconstitutional.

A quick review of the entire U.S. Constitution goes as follows: It's a framework that
delineates the delegation of powers. It designates who get to sits in the various cat-
bird seats of government and call the shots. That's all it does. It is very amendable,
from A to Z, and it's interchangeable from Z to A. That is to say, the United States
Constitution was NOT brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses. It came from
Philadelphia, the former United States capitol. It's very amendable and extremely
interchangeable. Caritas in Veritate says much much more than does the US Con-
stitution.

Now, the Republican Party's adaptation of the title, "pro-life" was the adoption of
an obtuse and plosive presentation that causes one to step back. It's also asinine,
as if someone has the political option to be pro-death. The law already exists. It's
only a matter of defining it and enforcing it. Pro-life isn't a political option. It's a
commandment.

The Catholic Church adopted the phrase, "Respect Life." That phrases hit the con-
science. The Republican Party simply hijacked the Catholic issue of respecting life
and turned it into a parade of majorettes, balloons, and confetti. To say the least, the
Republican Party failed at any claimed pro-life attempt, short of regulations that suf-
focate abortion clinic administration and which can easily be undone by a lawsuit.

The added irony is that conservative Republicans are likely to cry out "One World
Government conspiracy," all the while mentioning State's rights. Well, the corpora-
tions that the Republican Party supports has made themselves a world government
of tyrants. They don't employ people in the States. They go the India, Bangladesh,
Nepal, China, and elsewhere for the criminally low-paid labor. They are the One
Government World conspiracy which necessitates the counteraction mentioned in
the 2009 encyclical. The evil is the Republican Party.

You might be impressed with some of the sections of Caritas in Veritate. It's flow-
ing literature that contrasts some ideas and then pairs others. Reading some of it is
like watching Olympic figure skating, on a spiritual level. Sort of. In a way. Plus,
it definitely hints of Aristotelian logic. As a quick review, Aristotle is the one known
for asserting that the motivation for what you do at present is the final goal you seek
to achieve. In Caritas in Veritate, Benedict mentions the factors that cause a person's
motivation) and end (a person's destiny.) So, here is an excerpt of Benedict's legacy
to the church. In this one instance, he did good.

An Excerpt of Caritas in Veritate Chapter 5 Paragraph 67

In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly
felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations
Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that
the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth. One also senses the ur-
gent need to find innovative ways in implementing the principle of the responsibility
to protect and in giving poorer nations an effective voice in shared decision-making.

This seems necessary, in order to arrive at a political, juridical, and economic order
that can increase and give direction to international cooperation for the development
of all peoples in solidarity. To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit
by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and to avoid the greater
imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food
security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate
migration. For all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority, as my
predecessor Blessed John XXIII indicated some years ago.

Such an authority would need to be regulated by law, to observe consistently the
principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, to seek to establish the common good, and
to make a commitment to securing authentic integral human development inspired by
the values of charity in truth. Furthermore, such an authority would need to be uni-
versally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for
all, regard for justice, and respect for rights.

Obviously, it would have to have the authority to ensure compliance with its decisions
from all parties, and also with the coordinated measures adopted in various interna-
tional forums. Without this, despite the great progress accomplished in the various
sectors, international law would risk being conditioned by a balance of power among
the strongest nations.

The integral development of peoples and international cooperation require the estab-
lishment of a greater degree of international ordering, marked by subsidiarity, for the
management of globalization. They also require the construction of a social order that
at last conforms to the moral order, to the interconnection between moral and social
spheres, and to the link between politics and the economic and civil spheres, as en-
visaged by the Charter of the United Nations.

patrickpontillo@aol.com

My sites are counterweights for a Disinformation Age overrun by manipulative liars. The objective is to be a catalyst in righting wrongs.

I actually did earn academic honors in economics, as well as in foreign languages and accounting, even to the point of being inducted into the Phi Sigma Iota honors fraternity. .

I've been published along side laureates and even have literature on a Harvard library shelf, at Northwestern Univ, and a few other places.

Living in the city taught me that city folk naturally hone their people skills and are far more friendly than country folk. In fact, country folk can be inarticulate, ornery, and clannish, in their shot-gun territorialism.

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